ARTelevision

Annual graduation debauchery looms

from Aftenposten News from Norway

The notorious Norwegian tradition of celebrating the end of compulsory education with weeks of unrestrained dissipation before final exams is around the corner - and this year's crop vow ever wilder behavior, newspaper Dagsavisen reports.

The "russ" - final year students who traditionally wear red or blue overalls depending on their line of study - compete with each other in extreme drunken debauchery, with certain tasks earning them the right to add knots to dangle from their caps.

Some of the new tasks up for this year's knot-earning ritual are having sex with at least 17 partners, picking up a tender teen, getting a vagrant drunk and vomiting on the person next to you.

In Oslo's Manglerud district, the russ are ready.

"We are going to get as many knots as possible," Stine Hazeland told Dagsavisen.

"It's a sign of how crazy you have been. But I don't think I'll be able to earn more than 20 knots," Helene Fryys said.

According to a recent nationwide survey, half of this year's crop of russ rate earning cap knots an important part of the celebratory ritual. In Manglerud, they are determined but not fanatical.

"Sleeping with 17 people during the russ celebrations is a bit low - but I bet someone will do it," Fryys said.

Many of the male segment are convinced they will run naked through downtown Oslo, where schoolchildren of all ages parade every year to mark Norway's national day on May 17th.

Social anthropologist Allan Sande wrote his doctoral thesis on the russ phenomenon, and calls the tradition a transition ritual marking the passage to adulthood.

"It illustrates the passage from childhood to adulthood and one breaks rules to become an adult. They come to grips with taboos like sex and intoxication," Sande said. He isn't shocked by the latest wrinkles in the knot stakes.

"It is a form of ritualized play, very organized and regulated. The recognition of the one with most knots, the elite russ, reflects our career society - the knots can be compared to a résumé," Sande said.

While seven out of ten russ agree that the three-week party is a non-stop booze-fest, the traditional emphasis on earning recognition for swift and heavy drinking is gradually being replaced by an emphasis on sex.

Ethnologist Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl also sees this as a mirror of today's society.

"It is connected to the greater sexualization of society. Running naked down Karl Johan (Oslo's central, royal boulevard) would have been much more provocative 30 years ago. The taboos that the russ challenge are always changing," Hjemdahl said.

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Authority wants graduation revelry reined


from Aftenposten News from Norway

Hordaland will likely become Norway's first local authority to try and restrain the traditional but increasingly wild celebration associated with the 'Russ' - the final year class of high school.


32,000 students ending their higher education have already started the revelry that breaks out as the end of final exams beckons.

But each passing year has seen the boundaries of acceptable celebration being pressed hard, and enforcing some kind of limit is a regular political topic.

"Injuries, deaths, mixing drugs and drinking, and dangerous dares worry us. We now want to set clear and more binding demands to schools on what kind of conduct can be accepted," said education director Gunnar Dale in Hordaland.

Dale wants a written agreement between schools and their graduating classes, where their rights and duties are emphasized.

The 'Russ' are traditionally decked out in red or blue jumpsuits, depending on the type of subjects they are studying. They also wear caps, and can tie tokens to their hats by carrying out various dares, many involving copious boozing.

"Drinking a full bottle of strong alcohol in under eight hours to earn a cork in a cap can have fatal results," says Bjarte Bøe of the Bergen clinics.

A group of teachers and school authorities in the Bergen area are also worried about the growing debauchery associated with the 'Russ' celebrations and hope to cooperate with police and students to introduce higher levels of responsibility among coming graduates.

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I'm seeing connections here.
End of School Year Insanity as a "Right of Passage" ?

Limits are a matter of degree and not absolute.
Each year the limits are pushed further.

What is over the top and unnaceptable to you about all or any of this?

As related topics are in the news now, what thoughts do you have about the whole phenomenon and its implications?

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gov135

This is what bothered me the most about the articles. Written and signed statements need to be enforced with consequences. What, if you get wasted after graduation you gotta go back? I don't want my actions legislated for me, thats all.

Are the few ruining it for the many? Why can't you have a "right of passage" party with your friends when you graduate? I certainly don't know enough about the culture here, but I think a good many kids are careful and respectful.

Couldn't help but think about high school right-of-passage movies though. Many involve the "big fling" an all-out party. Life should not imitate art in these cases.

But I'm not sure if anything is "over-the-top" here. Basic responsibility, right and wrong, goes a long way.

gibber71

I say let them do what they want. If they get hurt or fucked around, I won't feel it. Since the emphasis is on those who participate,maybe someone should get a perspective from someone who chooses not to participate, and see if they think they have missed out on getting fucked 17 times or puking on someone.

Bob Biter

I'm more used to seeing things like this when people START school. Engineering programs in Montreal universities have notorious initiation rites that have garned some complaints, but not much press. You don't see much of this organised, "traditional" behaviour here when kids reach "adulthood", but rather when they want to join a specific, well-defined group.

How old are these people anyway? Since they're finishing HS, they should be around 18-20, right? What's the legal age over there? If it's 21, then I guess some sort or control is in order, but kids will be kids, so they should learn from their own mistakes.

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Daval

I have a good freind who is Norwegian and he's told me all about these traditions. They sound like a lot of fun, and as long as noone gets hurt, I say go for it.

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smarm

Sounds like Spring Break, only with a little more organization.

So who takes pictures, and where are the links?

rsl12

it sounds kind of like fun--i wonder how they get women to agree to go with it??

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cdwonderful

higher education is a wonderful thing...........

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XenuHubbard

Yeah, it is a rite of passage. And sometimes more than that. A girl in my friend's class had sex in the bus. In front of the class. With the bus driver.

Don't think she went to any of the reunions, though.

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clavus

Hooray for the hedonists!!

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mjby2

A modern day Viking rite?
If they want to live with the results let 'em.